Shohei Ohtani Fires Interpreter Over ‘Massive’ Gambling Controversy: What do we know? What’s Next?

The 2024 MLB Seoul Series was supposed to be a big moment for Shohei Ohtani, after signing a 10-year, $700 million deal with the LA Dodgers over the offseason. Instead, a black cloud hung above the dual-threat phenom’s head when it was announced that he had fired long-time interpreter Ippei Mizuhara due to an illegal gambling controversy.

The latest on the Shohei Ohtani-Ippei Mizuhara saga:

Ohtani is not currently facing discipline, according to an MLB official, nor is he believed to be under active investigation by the league.

On Mizuhara's surprising firing and how it came down: https://t.co/mh9Z0fXsMi

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 21, 2024

Mizuhara — who’s also a long-time best friend of Ohtani — allegedly stole $4.5 million from the 29-year-old superstar due to a gambling addiction. It’s been a story that has evolved and changed a lot over the last 24 hours, making it somewhat difficult to follow. Fortunately, Betting News is here to gather the facts to help it become easier to digest.

Shohei Ohtani Gambling Controversy: Ippei Mizuhara’s Perspective

Before the situation hit the airwaves on Wednesday, Ippei Mizuhara had actually sat down with ESPN for an exclusive interview 24 hours earlier.

Mizuhara spoke to ESPN for 90 minutes after one of Shohei Ohtani’s spokespeople told the sports juggernaut that Ohtani had only covered his former best friend’s gambling debts. Mizuhara had allegedly incurred the debt by participating in a Californian bookmaking operation. As most bettors know, sports betting is still illegal in California.

According to the ESPN interview, Mizuhara said that he made the bets with Mathew Bowyer, a Southern California bookmaker. The federal authorities had been investigating Bowyer’s operation since at least January, which is when they discovered that two wire transfers for $500,000 apiece were made to Bowyer under Ohtani’s name.

Bowyer’s lawyer, Diane Bass, clarified that her client “never met, spoke with, or texted, or had contact in any way with Shohei Ohtani.”

Once it was clear that the news was coming out, Mizuhara spoke to the Dodgers’ clubhouse after Game 1 of the Seoul Series, telling the team that he had a gambling addiction. It didn’t take much longer after that for Mizuhara’s firing to be announced, staining what was supposed to be an exciting moment for both Ohtani and the Dodgers.

Why Did Shohei Ohtani Fire Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara?

The story didn’t end up being that cut and dry, though. After all, it seems a bit unusual that Ohtani would fire Mizuhara if the former was helping his friend rather than the latter stealing his money.

Well, it turns out that there was more than meets the eye as the story unfolded.

Once the news came out, it didn’t take long for Ohtani’s camp to change their story. Instead of it being about Ohtani helping Mizuhara, Ohtani’s lawyers — Berk Brettler LLP — released a statement on Wednesday, saying that their client was a “victim of a massive theft” and that they were “turning the matter over to the authorities.”

After Berk Brettler released that statement, ESPN alleges that Mizuhara changed his story, now saying that Ohtani didn’t have any knowledge of the gambling debuts and that it wasn’t the player who transferred the money to Bowyer.

Mizuhara also added that he never bet on MLB games, saying that he learned in spring training that betting on baseball was off-limits.

No matter how you slice it, Mizuhara’s story changing so quickly is bound to raise some red flags. Did Ohtani truly have no idea about what was going on? Or did he know the whole time and Mizuhara just messed up in the initial interview?

While more details will likely be learned over the coming days, there’s always a chance that we won’t ever know the truth.

Will the MLB Discipline Shohei Ohtani for Gambling Controversy?

Now that Mizuhara is fired and replaced by temporary interpreter Will Ireton (who also works with Yoshinobu Yamamoto), baseball enthusiasts are asking one question: what’s next for Shohei Ohtani?

After all, the situation is clearly a federal legal issue and the MLB likely isn’t thrilled to have one of the game’s biggest stars being associated with an illegal gambling operation — especially after signing a monster contract over the offseason.

Having said that, it looks like Ohtani is in the clear… for now.

ESPN addresses the Shohei Ohtani interpreter controversy during its broadcast of Dodgers-Padres. pic.twitter.com/HQl82BkfxZ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 21, 2024

Per The Athletic‘s Fabian Ardaya, the Japanese superstar “is not currently facing discipline, according to an MLB official.” The league also isn’t investigating him at the moment, hence why Ohtani was able to suit up for Thursday’s 15-11 loss to the San Diego Padres. The two-time AL MVP went 1-for-5 at the plate with an RBI.

Unless some damning information comes out and it’s made evident that he knew what was going on with Mizuhara, Ohtani will be free to play for the Dodgers throughout the 2024 campaign. Having said that, the story likely isn’t going away any time soon.

It’s hard to find positives in a story that involves being betrayed by a best friend for millions of dollars. Hopefully, Ohtani’s name is truly clean because it’d be a massive blow to the MLB for it to lose one of its most exciting players for any amount of time.

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